1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle roof with a lowerable roof part which can be moved via a lowering mechanism from a raised into a lowered position and which comprises a closing device by means of which the lowerable roof part can be locked both in the raised and also in the lowered position, the closing device, with the lowerable roof part raised, interacting with a first pivot support which is fixed, at least temporarily, on an at least partially a stationary roof part.
2. Description of Related Art
There are manifold possibilities for stably locking a lowerable roof part, especially a lowerable roof part of a convertible, in the raised and lowered position. Thus, for example, German Patent DE 40 10 276 C2 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,789 disclose a foldable roof structure which comprises a roof plate and a rear window plate which is hinged to the roof plate, a lower edge area of the roof structure pivotably connected with a rear part of the body. The roof plate and the rear window plate can both be stowed by folding them together underneath a protective hood which is provided on the rear part of the motor vehicle, and in the folded-out state, are supported and can be locked to the side members and cross members of the passenger compartment, for which purpose there are several separate locking mechanisms. The roof plate is provided on opposite sides in the front area with a roof plate locking mechanism, and in the middle area in front of the top edge of the rear window plate there is a rear window locking mechanism, these two locking mechanisms being actuated by hand. Finally, a motorized protective hood locking mechanism is located on the rear part structure in order to securely fix the side edges of the protective hood on the rear part structure. The two initially mentioned locking mechanisms are used to prevent fluttering of the plates when they are in the folded-out position, conversely the locking mechanism of the protective hood is designed to suppress fluttering of the protective hood both in the folded-out position and also in the folded-in, stowed position of the plates.
German Patent DE 43 24 708 C2 discloses a lowerable roof for motor vehicles with a roof shell which has a roof plate and a rear roof post and which can be moved with the roof post into an accommodation space between the side walls of the body behind the passenger seat and forward of the rear wheels, according to which it is held aligned in a transverse plane of the motor vehicle. The rear window can be moved from the position of use to a position of non-use in which its glass surface is spaced from the roof plate by a short distance. There are guide means for motion control of the roof shell and the rear window, and the roof shell can be lowered via two sliding guides which are located in the accommodation space and the sliding guides are arranged independently of the guide means of the rear window. In each of the two corner areas of the face sides of the roof posts, there is a sliding pin which fits into the respective sliding guide. The two sliding guides extend with a curvature which causes the roof to move forward in the direction of travel, proceeding from the top edge of the side wall downward, the horizontal distance between the sliding guides having a narrowed site at roughly half the height of the side wall. By increasing the distance of the sliding guides underneath the narrowed site in the bottom end position of the lowered roof, the desired rest position is induced and can be stably maintained. Furthermore, to lock the roof shell in a position which covers the passenger compartment, there are front closures.
The hardtop motor vehicle known form German Patent DE 44 45 580 C1 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,470 is provided with a roof structure which has a roof part and a rear window part which is pivotably connected to it, which can be lowered by a forced control means, so as to pivot around a rear axle mounted on the motor vehicle which is supported in the rear area of the motor vehicle body, into a concealed box, e.g., the vehicle trunk. The forced control means has a control element which is made as linkage which engages a guide part in the area of the pivot axis of the roof with a guide rod and a main guide rod, and which with a pivoting connecting rod which is connected to a drive element forms an articulated parallelogram which moves the roof part and the rear window part. If the roof structure is in its open position which is lowered into the trunk, the control element which is formed by the linkage can be moved into a stable end position which forms a support in the manner of a toggle lever. The roof structure which is placed in the trunk of the motor vehicle is afterwards sealed in its rest position with the rear hatch/trunk lid. In its closed position, which covers the passenger compartment, the roof part is fixed via connecting elements on the windshield frame.
In the movable roof structure disclosed in German Patent DE 196 34 511 C1 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,375, has a front, dimensionally stable and likewise rear roof part for an open passenger car, there is a double-sided parallelogram rod by which the front roof part can be moved between its closed and its open position. Between the two parallelogram connecting rods, on each side of the parallelogram rod, there is a locking mechanism which rigidly couples the respective rear parallelogram connecting rods to the adjacent forward parallelogram connecting rod and prevents relative movement between the parallelogram connecting rods and thus also between the front and the rear roof shell in the closed position of the roof part.
A generic motor vehicle roof with a front roof part and a rear window part is known from DE 195 07 431 C1 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,778 which can be supported in the closed position which covers the rear on the windshield frame via connecting elements which are located on the front roof part and after pivoting back towards the rear area of the motor vehicle in an open position can be placed in a rear-side concealed box (trunk). The connecting elements which are provided on the front roof part interact in pairs with locking parts which are attached on the body-side in the rear area of the motor vehicle with the roof structure resting in the rear-side trunk, and thus, fix the folded-together roof structure. The locking parts which interact with the connecting elements attached to the front roof part with essentially the same action both in the area of the windshield frame and also in the rear area are components. A drive element which is formed by a hydraulic cylinder enables automatic fixing of the roof structure both in the closed position and in the stowed position.